When I lived in Durham, NC for college and community organizing, I drank beer. This is significant mainly because I don’t drink beer at all now. My entire taste for beer and liquor changed after I worked as a bartender (see Day 20). I learned about all of the liquors, what they each tasted like, how they mixed, what combinations created and what top shelf liquor was. After I started bartending, I became a drink snob. All of that happened soon after I moved to New York.
Before that however, I drank different things because I couldn’t figure out what I liked and no one ever sits you down and educates you about what the possibilities are. If you don’t bartend, I assume you just drink what you hear about. I am grateful for my bartending experience in New York solely for the reason that it exposed me to the potential of what is available.
Durham, NC, when I lived there, was an unassuming town filled with radical activists and artists. For some reason, the small township was filled with organizations and individuals who were leaders in various radical movements. This is part of the community that radicalized me as well. I loved the humility of the community and the unpretentious pace of life. My favorite bar was a small place in downtown Durham where the owners smiled and loved you. Everyone went there. And even though I recall there being a full bar, in Durham at the time that full bar probably meant the basics as well drinks and a bunch of beers on tap. Not knowing yet what “my” drink was, I drank beer.
Somehow, because everyone became family in Durham, the bar glasses became my glasses and I ended up with a small collection of pint glasses. I think I’ve kept them subconsciously because they became integrated into my own glass collection. And I no longer drink beer, so it’s time to let go. On day 347 of my 365 Release practice for non-attachment, letting go and change, I am letting go of something I kept by default, which I find is another reason I hang onto things. May I always be deliberate about what I not only let go but also of what I will acquire in the future.
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[I created the 365 Release Project to practice non-attachment, letting go and change by giving away 1 thing a day for 1 year. The background, vision and guidelines to the 365 RELEASE project are here. The running list of everything I have released is here.]
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